Patents Represented by Attorney Whitham, Curtis & Christofferson, P.C.
  • Patent number: 6884667
    Abstract: Field effect transistor with increased charge carrier mobility due to stress in the current channel 22. The stress is in the direction of current flow (longitudinal). In PFET device, the stress is compressive; in NFET devices, the stress is tensile. The stress is created by a compressive film 34 in an area 32 under the channel. The compressive film pushes up on the channel 22, causing it to bend. In PFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under ends 31 of the channel (e.g. under the source and drain), thereby causing compression in an upper portion 22A of the channel. In NFET devices, the compressive film is disposed under a middle portion 40 of the channel (e.g. under the gate), thereby causing tension in the, upper portion of the channel. Therefore, both NFET and PFET device can be enhanced. A method for making the devices is included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce B. Doris, Dureseti Chidambarrao, Xavier Baie, Jack A. Mandelman, Devendra K. Sadana, Dominic J. Schepis
  • Patent number: 6883056
    Abstract: An IEEE 1394 apparatus is disclosed wherein, even when the used power supply is changed over, coincidence of a power class is maintained. A voltage detection unit determines whether or not the output voltage of a power supply circuit is higher than a reference voltage. A code generation bloc generates, based on a result of the determination of the voltage detection unit, a code indicative of power class information which is information representing which one of power supplied from a serial bus and the power supply of its own is used for operation of the IEEE 1394 apparatus. When a changing point detection unit detects a change of the result of the determination from the voltage detection unit, it resets a PHY. When the PHY is reset, it performs self-identification and places the code generated by the code generation unit and indicative of the power class information into a Self-ID packet to be used for transmission of a result of the self-identification to a bus manager, and outputs the Self-ID packet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Masahisa Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 6881259
    Abstract: Analysis of residual gases from a process for depositing a film containing silicon on a crystalline silicon surface to determine partial pressure of hydrogen evolved during deposition develops a signature which indicates temperature and/or concentration of germanium at the deposition surface. Calibration and collection of hydrogen partial pressure data at a rate which is high relative to film deposition rate allows real-time, in-situ, non-destructive determination of material concentration profile over the thickness of the film and/or monitoring the temperature of a silicon film deposition process with increased accuracy and resolution to provide films of a desired thickness with high accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David C. Ahlgren, Jack Oon Chu, Basanth Jagannathan, Ryan W. Wuthrich
  • Patent number: 6880074
    Abstract: Processor overhead is reduced and processor performance, particularly processing speed and power savings, is improved, allowing real-time processor restarts, by skipping operational codes (opcodes) singly or in groups in accordance with one or more execution bits set during post-processing in opcodes preceding opcodes to be skipped. Thus portions of an application program which consume excessive power or are unsupported in particular operating environments can be easily and selectively de-activate while maintaining the integrity of the applications program. Local or cache memory is also effectively expanded and processor performance improved by eliminating opcodes from local or cache memory which will not be called.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Patrick E. Perry, Sebastian T. Ventrone
  • Patent number: 6876873
    Abstract: The mobile communication terminal uses a battery as a power source. The mobile communication terminal includes a detector 103, a decision section 105, a transmission-reserved controller 105, 107, and a reserved data transmission controller 105, 107. The detector 103 detects the voltage of the battery acting as a power source. The decision section 105 decides a difference relationship between a voltage level detected by the detector and a prescribed value. The transmission-reserved mail controller 105, 107 stores transmission data as transmission-reserved data into a storage, without starting the transmission operation, when the decision section decides that the detected voltage level is less than the prescribed value, in response to a data transmission request and then maintains its wait state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6876847
    Abstract: A mobile communication terminal has a melody sound source for simultaneously producing the sounds of a plurality of sound parts of melody data, a vibrator for vibrating a casing in response to a preset action, and a light-emitting diode for emitting light in response to a preset action. A melody timing output circuit in the melody sound source outputs a signal that determines the sounds of a given part of the melody data to a controller. The controller has analyzed the melody data of the given part, and determined, in advance, contents to be displayed, and performs a display control process in response to the signal output from the melody timing output circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2005
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Kudoh
  • Patent number: 6876951
    Abstract: A system for creating a computer database model of either measured data network throughput properties or wireless communication signal properties within a facility by measuring the desired properties at a plurality of locations within the facility and embedding the measured properties at the location of measurement represented in a three-dimensional facility drawing database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2005
    Assignee: Wireless Valley Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Roger R. Skidmore, Theodore S. Rappaport
  • Patent number: 6873010
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes memory cells having array transistors separated by minimum lithographic feature and unsilicided metal bit lines encapsulated by a diffusion barrier while high performance logic transistors may be formed on the same chip without compromise of performance including an effective channel, silicided contacts for low source/drain contact resistance, extension and halo implants for control of short channel effects and a dual work function semiconductor gate having a high impurity concentration and correspondingly thin depletion layer thickness commensurate with state of the art gate dielectric thickness. This structure is achieved by development of thick/tall structures of differing materials using a mask or anti-spacer, preferably of an easily planarized material, and using a similar mask planarized to the height of the structures of differing materials to decouple substrate and gate implantations in the logic transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dureseti Chidambarrao, Omer H. Dokumaci, Bruce Bennett Doris, Oleg Gluschenkov, Rajarao Jammy, Jack Allen Mandelman
  • Patent number: 6873967
    Abstract: A computer system provides one or more lists of product combinations to one or more shoppers over one or more networks. The computer system comprises one or more central processing units (CPUs), one or more memories, and one or more network interfaces to one or more networks. An electronic shopping assistant process implemented on the computer system receives one or more inputs of constraints from shoppers, sends out the inputs to one or more shopping list generating processes in one or more stores, receives one or more lists of recommended product combinations that satisfy the given constraints, and allows shoppers to view and select one or more product combinations from received lists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jayant R. Kalagnanam, Ying Tat Leung, Andrew J. Davenport, Juhnyoung Lee
  • Patent number: 6874111
    Abstract: The functionality of a programmable memory built-in self-test (BIST) arrangement for testing an embedded memory structure of an integrated circuit is extended to system level testing to ascertain operability of the system after the integrated circuits and boards including them have been placed in service in larger systems, by generating default test signals which are loaded in an instruction store module when test instructions are not provided from an external tester. This additional utility of the BIST arrangement, increases efficiency of chip space utilization and improves the system level test. Loading of test instructions from an external tester during chip manufacture and/or board assembly is unaffected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: R. Dean Adams, Thomas J. Eckenrode, Steven L. Gregor, Kamran Zarrineh
  • Patent number: 6868572
    Abstract: The invention provides a bit (10) for use with a rotatable tool, said bit including: a shaft (12) having a rearward end adapted to be held by a chuck of the rotatable tool, and a forward end (18) having cutting tips formed thereon; a reaming head (14) including a body having a bore (16) adapted to receive the shaft therethrough in a sliding fit, the body having a plurality of cutting blades (26) formed on at least one peripheral surface thereof; the bore and/or the shaft having formations thereon such that when the rearing head has the shaft operatively located in the bore the reaming head is rotationally locked into the shaft; the reaming head and the shaft being separable from each other to allow either component to be replaced independently of the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: Savetime Products Pty. Ltd.
    Inventor: John Edgley Newton
  • Patent number: 6871139
    Abstract: A system produces of an empirical map of wireless communication coverage through a process of combining information from individual clients to produce a map which is then shared by all of the clients. The wireless coverage map aids in maintaining a reliable communications link. The empirical map is generated by combining information from a group of mobile wireless users. The group may consist of a fleet of trucks, taxicabs, government service vehicles, or the customers of a wireless service provider. The mobile vehicles must be equipped with a GPS device or be located by other means such as triangulation. While vehicles are moving, the quality of wireless communication, e.g., signal strength or communication continuity, is recorded for each vehicle as a function of positions. The data from all of the vehicles is combined to produce the empirical map. The empirical map may be maintained at a central site and subsets of the map replicated for individual vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Te-Kai Liu, Michael C. Greenwood, Lawrence L. Lieberman, Kiyoshi Maruyama, Paul A. Moskowitz
  • Patent number: 6865490
    Abstract: A method of separating and localizing sources of traveling waves, by obtaining linearly independent time-differentiated instantaneous observations of the sources, from spatial derivatives of the traveling wave acquired using a distributed sensor or a sensor array. The sources are blindly separated by direct application of (static) independent component analysis on the time-differentiated observations, yielding both the sources and their direction cosines relative to the sensor geometry. The method is suited for arrays of small aperture, with dimensions shorter than the coherence length of the waves. In one preferred embodiment, three sources are separated and localized from differential observations on four coplanar sensors positioned on the corners of a square.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: The Johns Hopkins University
    Inventors: Gert Cauwenberghs, Milutin Stanacevic, George Zweig
  • Patent number: 6864832
    Abstract: The distance and relative speed of an object remote from an observation point determined using a signal form which includes two signals having a predetermined spacing relative to each other. The two signals are transmitted for a certain time interval during which the frequency of the signals is modulated in a stepwise fashion. Additionally, the signal sections of the two signals are transmitted alternately for each step so that there is a predetermined frequency spacing between the signal sections being emitted consecutively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: s.m.s. smart microwave sensors GmbH
    Inventors: Ralph Mende, Hermann Rohling, Marc-Michael Meinecke
  • Patent number: 6862384
    Abstract: A light source-optical fiber coupler constituted by: a light source (such as a semiconductor laser chip 10); and a gradient index rod lens 14 for coupling diffuse luminous flux emitted from the light source to an end surface of an optical fiber (such as a single mode optical fiber 16). The gradient index rod lens has a light source side end surface shaped like a convex spherical surface, and an optical fiber side end surface shaped like a flat surface. The gradient index rod lens is retained by the housing in the condition that the light source (laser chip) and the gradient index rod lens are disposed close to each other. The distance between a surface of the laser chip and an end surface of the gradient index rod lens is preferably selected to be not larger than 0.3 mm and more preferably in a range of from about 0.2 mm to about 0.25 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2005
    Assignee: Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Koshi, Yasuji Sasaki
  • Patent number: 6859561
    Abstract: Image rotations of 90°, 180° and 270° and horizontal and vertical mirroring image transformations are performed losslessly and with greatly enhanced speed by processing orthogonal transform coefficients in a zig-zag order with direct storage of S (size) values, reassociated R (run of zero valued coefficients) from an adjacent coded orthogonal transform value and a non-zero valued transformation coefficient in reverse zig-zag order. Cache misses are avoided by processing values which are not widely separated in the coded data and other features of the technique and memory accesses are reduced to accelerate processing while extremely little computation is required. These effects are substantially augmented when intermediate codes having certain attributes including coding of zero valued coefficients and flagging certain code features are employed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joan L. Mitchell, Nenad Rijavec
  • Patent number: 6859372
    Abstract: A non-isolated bridge-buck DC—DC converter has self-driven synchronous rectifiers Q5 Q6 in the buck circuits 28 30. Gate electrodes of the synchronous rectifiers Q5 Q6 are connected to midpoints 24A 24B of the bridge circuit. The voltage at the midpoints provides the necessary voltage waveform for switching the synchronous rectifiers Q5 Q6. In another aspect of the invention, voltage shift circuits 34 are provided between the midpoints and the gates of the synchronous rectifiers. The voltage shift circuits are necessary in some embodiments to make sure that the synchronous rectifiers are turned completely OFF when necessary. The present invention provides a more power efficient and less expensive technique for controlling the synchronous rectifiers compared to conventional external driver circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2005
    Assignee: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Ming Xu, Fred C. Lee, Jinghai Zhou
  • Patent number: 6856463
    Abstract: An image transfer device having: a lens array laminate 14 forming an erecting unit magnification optical system, the lens array laminate including a plurality of lens array sheets 12 of the same specification each of which has convex-convex lens elements 10 arranged in a plurality of rows and which are substantially closely laminated in a direction of each lens optical axis. Typically, two to four lens array sheets of the same specification each of which has convex-convex lens elements each having are fractive index of not lower than 1.45 and arranged in 3 to 9 rows are closely laminated on each other or one another in a direction of each lens optical axis. Each of the lens array sheets is preferably formed so that the lens thickness is in a range of from about 4 mm to about 0.5 mm and the number of lens rows is in a range of from 4 to 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2005
    Assignee: Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Minoru Toyama
  • Patent number: 6853727
    Abstract: Copy protection is provided at a mass storage device provided in or connected to a decoder for receiving digital transmissions of audio and video program material by virtual scrambling of blocks of data. Non-sequential storage locations for blocks of data are defined in accordance with a key and the file allocation table is encrypted and stored. Thus blocks of data remain intact and need not be decrypted upon playback, reducing processing time, while the program is effectively protected from reassembly without decryption of the file allocation table. The key(s) may be maintained internally within the decoder and need not be shared, thus avoiding a need for user identification and/or authentication. Software for encryption, including keys may be downloaded to the decoder through the same transmission link used for transmission of data files that may be encrypted in response to control signals or flags transmitted with data files to be protected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eric M. Foster, Dennis E. Franklin, Wai Man Lam, Raymond E. Losinger, Chuck H. Ngai
  • Patent number: 6852420
    Abstract: According to the present invention, there is provided a mold constituted by an electrically conductive thin plate having a predetermined surface shape, and an electrically insulating reinforcement material, wherein the electrically conductive thin plate and the electrically insulating reinforcement material are bonded to each other by an anodic bonding method. Particularly, the electrically conductive thin plate is preferably formed out of silicon single crystalline and the electrically insulating reinforcement material is preferably oxide glass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2005
    Assignee: Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Yamamoto, Masahiro Hori, Koichiro Nakamura, Kenichi Nakama, Katsuhide Shimmo